Sunday, August 26, 2012

Piles and Piles of Magazines

Those who know me well know that I have been decluttering my house for over ten years now. When my son (now 11) was a baby, I joined Flylady (www.flylady.net) - I can honestly say that Flylady changed my life! All those things that naturally organized people know about how to keep a house clear of stuff, I don't. I am naturally a bit messy and I love collecting things that I know I can make into something else someday - I know I'm not alone ;)

So, as I was cleaning a bit in my sewing room, I glanced over at my bookshelf and saw stacks of magazines - magazines that I bought and looked at and then promptly put in with the others in the stacks. Granted, I occasionally take a few out, re-read a few articles, and I might even bookmark a quilt or two that I would like to make someday (again with that word!), but for the most part, they just sit on the shelves looking pretty (and they do look pretty!).

But, let's face it, I have been quilting for 22 years now (33 if you count the little doll quilt I made with my grandmother when I was 8), and I really don't need basic quilt-making directions anymore, and I can usually figure out the math on basic, geometric quilt patterns (I love making quilts with squares and rectangles mostly anyway). So, I don't need piles and piles of magazines laying around. Add Pinterst to the mix, and I don't often even look at magazines for inspiration anymore.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I will still buy magazines when they catch my eye. And a friend recently gave me the premiere issue of Quilty and I quite like it - and it's going in the keep pile :) I am actually keeping many of the more recent magazines. But that still left a pile of older magazines that I didn't want anymore. I really didn't want to recycle them - heck, they cost close to $10 each (and no, I refuse to do the math that would tell me exactly how much I have spent on magazines in the past 20 years!). I could freecycle them or donate them to the local seniors' centre and I know they would be enjoyed by others.

But they are my magazines and what I really felt like doing with them
was crafting! Free craft supplies are always a good thing. So, off to YouTube to find what I could make with
magazines.

I discovered magazine reeds! And I'm completely, totally addicted. You see craft magazines (there were also some scrapbooking magazines in there) have wonderful colours in them that make great reeds. After having our flooring in the first floor done this spring, I was loathe to put back up the boring art I had on the walls before. I needed something new. I though, why couldn't I make something, for free, and hang it up?

So, I started rolling the pages. It actually took a long time. But,
oh, how fun! My son started making some, too, and we spent a rainy
Friday afternoon quite nicely in the sewing room, rolling paper.

Of course, some of the pages aren't very exciting at all, with all that print - so I collaged. The background on this one is just columns of print from the magazines, and then I cut circles from some scrapbooking paper (yet another craft supply I have far too much of!) and collaged them on, too. Then I took a black permanent fine-liner and doodled a bit - super fun!

Really, what more can I ask of my magazines? I enjoyed them for what they were, then I enjoyed them again for what I could make with them, and now I can enjoy them on the wall. Life really doesn't get much better than cut and paste, does it? ;)